There are some questions about DayTripper I've had for long time, and I thought I'd pose them here. I did quick scan of the song topics and didn't see anything really related (pardon me if this has been covered somewhere else).

The version I've listened to (From Past Masters, Volume 2 - NOT the 2009 version) starts off with a slightly overdriven guitar in the right channel (RC) playing the riff. To my ears it sounds like this guitar is echoed in the left channel (LC) with some delay but I can't be sure. After the riff is played twice, I hear a clean guitar in the LC, struming what sounds like open chords.

This pattern appears to continue in the verse, albeit with key changes. In the chorus, the RC guitar switches to playing palm-muted power chords (early heavy metal there!). I cannot really make out what the LC guitar is doing at that point.

During the solo, the tone of the RC guitar changes (at least to my ears), it sounds cleaner but with more treble. This is the part where the RC guitar begins playing the riff in the key of B, and eventually leads to the solo.

Questions (and my thoughts in smileys)

1) Who's playing the riff on the RC guitar? ()

2) Is the RC guitar being echoed in the LC? Or perhaps someone is playing it? (I suspect it's a echo, as I'm not sure if the Beatles were into manually double-tracking guitars at this point in their career. If they were, then I'd say that would indicate their knowledge of using muliti-track recording studios was far more advanced than I'd prevously thought).

3) Who's playing the open chords on the LC guitar? ()

4) Who's playing the guitar solo? ()

Cheers!

MVP

Regards,
MVP

30 December 201010.28pm

mr. Sun king coming together

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First Off: Welcome.

1) Most Likely George

2) It is probably instrument Bleed, From George Again

3) John.

4) John

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

31 December 20101.14am

Marcelo

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John played the solo? That's something completely surprising! I always thought that it was George!

I'm a green apple right now.

I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon

3 January 20119.02pm

MVP

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@Marcelo - that makes two of us!

@mr. Sun king - Thanks.

What (I find) is odd is the solo (I guess had to have been overdubbed) is in the RC, where the original riff-playing guitar was. It does lead me to wonder what George had originally played there (as the LC guitar was likely recorded by John when recording the song's initial backing tracks), as his part appears to have been edited out during the solo.

I find it kind of ironic that Lennon doesn't appear to actually play a riff he came up with (and one of the awesome riffs ever) throughout the song, except apparently during a guitar solo, and in a different key no less. It's very easy to play in E and A due to taking advantage of the open string on a guitar in standard tuning, but shifting it to B makes it harder.

I always wonder where and how he came up with it and got George (and Paul) to play it instead of himself.

And no denigration intended towards Lennon's lead guitar playing - tone-wise I can see where it's Lennon soloing, but he always struck me as very rhythmic in his playing. I'll have to listen to it some more is see if I can pick up any phrases that he used a lot. The solo is very forceful and driving and provides a very nice contrast to the building melodic vocal backup, and Ringo's increasingly aggressive drumming.

Regards,
MVP

3 January 20119.08pm

mr. Sun king coming together

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No Problem. Joe's Article should be of some Help to you: /songs/day-tripper-2/

As if it matters how a man falls down.'

'When the fall's all that's left, it matters a great deal.

4 January 20116.08pm

MVP

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Thanks for the links.

I bought Mark Lewisohn's book to see if I could find the answers. Both it and Joe's article contain some hints, but not much about the nitty-gritty I'm looking for on the recording of the guitars for this song. While I enjoyed reading it (and the comments), unfortunately it doesn't really answer my questions about the guitar playing (and specifcally now, how Lennon came up with music and that riff). I did initially pose that question there.

It's a good start though. Admittedly I wasn't (and would not) expect an online article to contain the huge volume of information to answer the questions I'm asking, but it contained a lot of information I otherwise wouldn't have thought of (I wasn't aware Lennon based the song on a folk song he wrote prior).

Regards,
MVP

4 January 20116.54pm

Marcelo

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MVP said:

I find it kind of ironic that Lennon doesn't appear to actually play a riff he came up with (and one of the awesome riffs ever) throughout the song, except apparently during a guitar solo, and in a different key no less. It's very easy to play in E and A due to taking advantage of the open string on a guitar in standard tuning, but shifting it to B makes it harder.

I always wonder where and how he came up with it and got George (and Paul) to play it instead of himself.

All I can say is that's a beautiful riff, but very difficult to play, and even more if you're singing. The voice comes after the riff start every time, so I can't really get it right.

In fact, that's what happen to me, I don't know if that would happen to them playing it live.

MVP said:

And no denigration intended towards Lennon's lead guitar playing – tone-wise I can see where it's Lennon soloing, but he always struck me as very rhythmic in his playing. I'll have to listen to it some more is see if I can pick up any phrases that he used a lot. The solo is very forceful and driving and provides a very nice contrast to the building melodic vocal backup, and Ringo's increasingly aggressive drumming.

What do you mean with "too rhythmic"? Don't underestimate rhythm guitar!

I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon

18 January 20119.48pm

MVP

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All I can say is that's a beautiful riff, but very difficult to play, and even more if you're singing. The voice comes after the riff start every time, so I can't really get it right.

Agreed. I've done it before - I've had to play the riff and sing back up - no easy task! That's another reason why the Beatles were so cool and so ahead of their times - all the guys could play an instrument and sing.

What do you mean with "too rhythmic"? Don't underestimate rhythm guitar!

Perhaps 'riff-oriented' is the term I'm looking for? His lead playing on songs I've heard was very phrase-driven. He'd play a melody and repeat it with variations. It's not a bad thing - many guitar players do that. If you've got a good idea, why limit to playing it just once? On the other hand, I could just be projecting my own limited abilities.

That being said, I'm a rhythm guitarist/singer/songwriter. I've always equated playing rhythm guitar with holding a song together. I like all the Beatles, but John was one I focused on the most.

Regards,
MVP

19 January 201111.05pm

MattGeorgeUK

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I would guess that it was George doing the solo, seeing as he did it live

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23 January 20117.55pm

Celebrated_Mr_K

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I'm not a guitarist, so I can't help with technical issues. But here's a clip of the Beatles performing "Daytripper" on a TV show. You can follow who's playing what part through most of it. The guys were obviously not performing this live for the show, so it's the original track they're playing along to.

They always thought it was a big joke when they were asked to mime along with a song for a TV show…that's why they're smirking through a good bit of this one.

23 January 20118.08pm

Celebrated_Mr_K

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Marcelo said:

What do you mean with "too rhythmic"? Don't underestimate rhythm guitar!

Bingo!

Compare the simple, catchy rhythm guitar by Col. Steve Cropper on Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" to any longwinded lead guitar riff of any 1980's hair band and tell me which is more effective at defining a song.

25 January 20113.43am

Marcelo

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Celebrated_Mr_K said:

Marcelo said:

What do you mean with "too rhythmic"? Don't underestimate rhythm guitar!

Bingo!

Compare the simple, catchy rhythm guitar by Col. Steve Cropper on Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" to any longwinded lead guitar riff of any 1980's hair band and tell me which is more effective at defining a song.

Oh, yeah!

I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon

29 December 20117.28pm

RunForYourLife

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Not to dig up an ancient thread, but I stumbled upon this, and figured I'd try to clear a few things up.

1. George is playing 2 leads in unison on a Fender Strat – One distorted, one clean/compressed. In the U.S version, the first bar only has the distorted guitar. I've heard that he recorded the second lead because of the "errors" where the song cuts out.

2. John is playing the open rhythm chords (Mostly 7ths) throughout, either on his Ric 325 or his Strat (He and George got matching Strats during the "Help!" sessions, and from what I've read, he pretty much ditched the Ric by that point).

3. During the break, John apparently plays the solo (It sounds "messy" enough to be John), while George plays an ascending scale with volume swells. I can't hear John's rhythm chords during the solo, so John playing the solo holds some water – It was "HIS" song, and he already gave Paul the lead vocal.

4. John said somewhere that he came up with this riff by messing around with the "I Feel Fine" riff, as well as the riff from Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step", which "I Feel Fine" is also based on (The riff "Paperback Writer" was apparently created messing around with the "Day Tripper" riff, so it wouldn''t be unheard of).

5. Paul is playing the bassline on HIS Ric, because the Hofner would go out of tune if he played that high on the register (He plays the "E" riff on the 7th fret of the "A" string, instead of open on the "E"). This was also an early experiment with compressing the bass so it'd "cut through" in the mix, which they''d really try out for "Paperback Writer".

30 December 20118.38pm

mithveaen

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Wow those tidbits are quite interesting! I have never heard that Watch Your Step song.... thanks for sharing!

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11 November 20121.42am

RunForYourLife

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There seems to be some confusion about who plays what on Day Tripper, in terms of guitars, especially concerning the solo. After listening extensively to the Capitol stereo mix, I have come to the following conclusions...

- George plays a "doubled" lead guitar. There is a distorted guitar on the right channel, and a twangy clean one on the left.

- John plays the jangly rhythm guitar, mostly 7th chords.

- During the solo, John plays a B7 chord. George plays the solo itself through the right channel, on the clean guitar, while playing the volume swells on the left channel with the distorted guitar.

- Another item of note, Paul plays the riff in E at the 7th fret of the A string (In the same range as the guitar), but drops down to a low-A (Or possibly the 5th fret of the E string) when the riff goes into A, creating that cool guitar/bass "octave" effect.

11 November 20129.34pm

Long John Silver

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I don't see why it is importing who played it, it is more importing who wrote it . I think solo part was played by John by the way .

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